Hermes Trismegistus, Rome, and the Myth of Europa: An Unknown Text of Giles of Viterbo

Abstract

Trismegistus, Rome, and the Myth of Europa: An Unknown Text of Giles of Viterbo. The article discusses and publishes from MS V F 14 of the Biblioteca nazionale in Naples an autograph fragment of what may be Giles's lost Liber Dialogorum. The fragment consists of a fictive dialogue between the Archangel Michael and Saint Lorenzo Maiorano of Siponto. The fragment seems to be an attempt to rework the story of the apparition of the Archangel Michael on Monte Gargano in the sixth century into something of a Christian Pimander, where the angel reveals divine arcana from the perspective of a Christian neoplatonist and moral reformer. A central part of these revelations is the explanation of the myth of Europa as an allegory about Italy and her corruption. Giles also develops a five stage scheme on the destiny of Rome and, in passing, has some harsh words to say about Hermes Trismegistus. Whether or not the fragment is from the Liber Dialogorum, it is certainly one of Giles's earliest writings and probab...